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CoActionDrama:System Description
System Description CoActionDrama is a descriptive, heroic, dice based role-playing system. Characters have Natures, their innate, “born with” ability levels which describe their natural and innate talents, and Developments, which describe and quantify their skills and abilities as specifically applied to the life that they have led since they were born. This is to reflect a balance between the Nature/Nurture arguments that follow from studying people as they grow up and develop. Players control their characters in the usual fashion for role-playing games, and rolls are made to determine the outcome of the interactions between the player/characters and the world often including other player/characters. It is a feature of CoActionDrama that the system is simple and manageable enough to cope with large numbers of players. This Author has regularly run 9 people around the table for a five hour session. Players are expected to use the system to resolve combats, determine the outcome of non-Player-Character (NPC) interactions, (players often control NPCs after a quick private briefing), and even determine the outcome of actions they decide to take themselves. As the player group this author runs has been 15-20 strong at times, this kind of co-operation is essential. Players are not in competition with each other, they are co-operating to tell a story, and the outcome of the story can be happy or sad, fortuitous or unfortunate, but the objective is for players to have fun and to find out what happens. Another feature of the system is the strict interpretation and application of the rules. This runs counter to most role-playing games where the GM at least is told to “ignore” or “reapply” the rules if things do not seem to be working out. During the Development of the system we have stopped mid-play (you are not expected to do this!!), and worked out what is wrong with the inception of the rules we have been playing with, before correcting, or noting for future correction, the problem. It has been surprising how many times a flimsy application of the rules is the problem! Apply the rules as strictly as possible, it is in the interests of fairness for everyone, and removes the need for constant nit-picking attention by the GM which leads to much more satisfactory player-led role-play. (Hurrahs all round). System Operation (General) Characters have 10 Natures which are divided (very) roughly into mental and physical. For Humans they are in the range 5-20. (These may be increased by experience points to a maximum of 25). Rolls, on 2d20, are generally made against a Nature and Development added together, plus, if required a modifier in the range 1-10, giving a possible target of -8 to 50. Rolls always succeed on 2, and always fail on 40, even if the target number is higher than 40. If a roll 15 or more below the target is made, the success is counted as “good” or “special”. This means that the task or challenge has been especially easy for the character, and, for example, in combat aiming can achieved without cost (or double dice damage, not both), or in crafting, a higher price can be gained for the item in question. If a roll of 25 or more below is made, or a roll of 2 is made and it is not the only success possible, the success is “critical”, that is to say, for crafting, a master work is achieved, or for combat, quadruple dice damage can be given, (or aiming and double dice). Conversely, if a roll or 15 or more above the target is made, the task is not only failed, but failed badly, a "fumble". The sword strikes a wall, the bullet hits something unintended and damaging, the work fails, or is undervalued. If a roll of 25 or more over the target is made, or 40 is rolled, and it is not the only number available for failure, (i.e. the target is 40 or above), then a "critical failure" is made. The bullet hits someone unintended causing major damage perhaps, the sword hits a friend or that rope holding up the bridge, the work fails at a bad moment, damaging the owner. The number and type of rolls is determined by the GM, but always remember to apply the rules vigorously, this can save you from embarrassment and confusion when rolls are required. Players may also make rolls to determine the success or otherwise of an action when they do not know if they would succeed or not, indeed in large groups this behaviour should be encouraged. Players fill in the gaps in their own knowledge about the world by using the system as strictly as possible. Character Generation Character generation is the fulcrum around which the game system swings. By generating a character, the player and GM alike knows what the character is able to do, their strengths and weaknesses, and this provides a sound base for the playing of the game. Once the information about a character has been obtained, very little else will need to be known from the book, a character should be self contained and ready to run provided one knows the basic rules, outlined in System Operation, above. One might like to know the rules about Dodge and Parry as well. The system divides characters into nature and nurture or as we call it Nature and Development, reflecting the already stated belief that people are made up of these two aspects. Natures Players need to know what their characters can do and this system is no exception. We have already seen that Natures are vitally important and we will now look at these. They are :- Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Perception, Charisma, Wit, Intelligence, Psychic, Wisdom, Willpower. All of these are in the range 5-20 for humans. To generate a full set roll 3d6+2 for each Nature and assign them in turn. For Age roll 2D20+14, (16-56). The guide for Weight, 11xStr lbs, i.e. you can lift your own body weight. It is a rough guide. For Height use 54+(2d10) inches, again a rough guide only. (4’6” - 6’2”) Obviously it would be daft, as a general statement of case, to make a warrior type with only 5 strength, but there may be circumstances in which you would do this. Bear in mind too that Natures are combined with Developments to establish what roll you have to make to succeed. Note also that the GM may arbitrarily change what Nature you must use with a Development, but you are required to have an associated Nature for every Development, and fill in the scores correctly. You should, in particular, make sure that you fill in the Nature and not just the Nature score, the GM may need to know what Nature you have associated with a particular Development. The four kinds of rolls players deal with are:- :Nature Test Roll (NTR) ::2D20 versus Nature+1 in the raw. Roll equal or under or you have failed. Use when NO Development is applicable, or when some situation is very taxing and character Developments just don’t cut it. :Development Test (DT) ::2D20 versus Nature + Development, normally the combination listed on the sheet, but for differing situations this can altered, such as using dexterity or intelligence for sword fighting when a character picks up an epee instead of a broadsword. This is the normal roll. :Third Party ::The characters are dancing, a judge chooses between them depending on their dancing Development as demonstrated. Each player rolls their dance Development and bonuses, the player-character who makes it by the most wins. If the roll is failed by both parties, then the one with the least fail will be the best for that roll. Use the magnitude of the rolls to help determine the shape of the outcome. :Passive ::One character is hiding, the other one is looking for him. The hiding character made his roll by 4, the seeking character takes that 4 as a negative to find him. Developments Developments are in the range 1-20, and are added to appropriate Natures. Your Development Test (DT) is equal to or under the combined Nature and Development roll. 2 is always an automatic success, 40 always a failure, even if your target is over 40. Characters take Int Developments as a starting character, and any amount of other developments at level 1. Weapon Developments are taken at Int/4, (round down). For each Development roll 2D10 and fill in a Development Level (column 4) slot on the character sheet before filling in the Development name. When the Developments levels are known, determine the Nature which matches the slots by rolling 1D10 and matching the natures using the 1 = Str, 2 = Con, 3 = Dex & etc, schema. Do not forget to write down the Nature name as well as the level. (Nature Column 2, Nature level column 3, from Natures box). Knowing which Nature is used with each Development is an important part of the game mechanic. It is important to realise that the combination of Natures and Developments are what allows for the very descriptive nature of characters in the system. As well as being part of the game mechanic, the possible combinations and permutations of Natures and Developments mean that two characters with exactly the same levels in each could look completely different by simply cross assigning different Natures & Developments. Use this aspect of the system to tell more about the character than the raw numbers give, for an initial character there are at least a hundred possibilities for what the character could be. The Development List is included as a separate chapter later in the book. Make it up if you don’t see it on a list. This system is meant to be descriptive and not for power gaming, so choose the appropriate Development. Note: don’t be a ninny and do the munchkin thing, if you do, you are missing the point! Specialisation Although most Developments can be used as described, some are so general that they are listed as requiring Specialisation into order to qualify for the roll without penalty. These developments incur a penalty of 5 before any other penalty is given should they be used without the specialisation. Specify specialisations as progressive stage of focussed knowledge, as Development: Stage one: Stage two: Stage three Modifiers Modifiers come in two forms, bonuses, (+ve) and penalties, (-ve). Bonuses are added to the target roll, making it easier to achieve the Target Roll, and penalties are subtracted, making it harder. The normal range for modifiers is 1-10. Use modifiers in Combat to represent extra difficulties, such as cover or movement. Use modifiers in regular play to represent difficulties such as shortness of supply or interaction with difficult people. Movement Movement is Combat or non-combat. During Combat movement is based on the possible per-quarter movement of a character. This is based on the possible movement for the fastest human being. A human can run at 10m/s for 10 seconds, covering 100m. This is about 22mph. Most humans cannot do this even in extreme circumstances, however dextrous. To simplify the movement schema, it is assumed that humans can move 5m/s if doing nothing else, and 3m/s if covering. This means that for most people a quarter's movement is 9m, or about 30 ft. If performing any action during that quarter, the movement is halved to 4.5m, or about 15ft. It has been convenient to measure in feet for the play testers, because miniatures are often used in combat situation to help resolve the situation. Humans marching are assumed to be doing 4mph, forced double-time would make this 8mph, but a constitution check would need to be made every hour, or the pace would need to be slowed or stopped. Encumbered characters can only do half speed. A GM should use a great deal of discretion about speed. Varying circumstances can greatly affect speed. Encumbrance Any character carrying any object ¼ of their height in more than 1 dimension, (i.e. not a spear etc.), is considered to be encumbered. Consider a character carrying a large piece of metal, for example, it will get in the way and reduce movement and dexterity. Any character carrying more than ¼ of their body weight is encumbered. They may run only at half speed for half the normal distance. Any character carrying ½ their own body weight is very encumbered and may only walk, under normal circumstances. GM discretion for rolls to overcome this. (Typically this would be free for the first minute, a strength roll for every minute after that, with a 1 pt temporary Con loss until recovery. Failure of the roll still incurs the Con loss). Recovery from fatigued movement is 1 Con per hour. Characters carrying ¾ of their own body weight may only walk or jog in extreme circumstances, (think soldiers rescuing each other). They may not run. Horses Horses moves generally at a walk if characters don't want to use them up. If they are being used for rapid transit, a horse may move at 20mph for about 6 hours, after which the horse will be exhausted, and unable to travel further under any circumstances. In extreme circumstances, a horse may be ridden as fast as 40mph (64km/h) for a short period, as long as five minutes, the horse will be tired and have to slow down to 20mph for another hour and then it will be exhausted. These figures all apply to a horse carrying a normal sized person and equipment. Ambidexterity Ambidexterity is taken as a Development, even though it may be argued that it is a natural trait for some characters. Rolling under or equal to the Ambidexterity Development means that the character does not suffer the penalties normally associated with operating with the off hand for that task. Fluffing it would mean that both hands suffer the penalty. There is little point in taking a very low ambidexterity Development. Any character may use their off hand for performing tasks at (generally) a -5 Penalty. CoActionDrama:Spells follows Category:CoActionDrama